SPECK] A MOHEGAN-PEQUOT DIARY 221 



An interesting addition to our knowledge of local tribal synonyms 

 is provided by Mrs. Fielding's name for the Pequot, which she pro- 

 nounced Pi''Jcwut. This checks up phonetically with the plural form 

 Pequttoog, given by Roger Williams (1636), who presumably knew 

 the language so well.' Mrs. Fielding no doubt could have given the 

 Indian forms of other tribal names in New England, but unfortunately 

 she was never induced to speak of them. 



On several documents drawn up by the Mohegan themselves and 

 addressed to the colonial assembly, the name of the Nehantic appears 

 as "Nahantick," the Mohegan equivalent of which still is Nahantik. 

 It is evidently "People of the Point," and refers to Black Point, a 

 promontoiy 3 miles in length, where the Nehantic had their principal 

 village. 



COMPARATIVE SURVEY OF CERTAIN CULTURE 



FEATURES 



So far we have paid attention only to the classification of speech. 

 In respect to culture in general, it seems evident that within the 

 confines of the whole southern New England group this was fairly 

 uniform. Historical sources remain our chief reliance for the life and 

 culture of the eastern bands. They are, of course, inadecjuate for 

 the reconstruction of the native culture areas. Nevertheless, a 

 number of evidences coincide to indicate that the geographical 

 cleavage line between northern and southern New England, using 

 the Merrimac River approximately for the division at the coast, was 

 also an ethnological and dialectic bisector,' from which follows the 

 inference of different culture-historical delimitations for the two 

 areas. Northward from the Merrimac drainage area resided the 

 members of the Wabanald group, beginning with the Pigwacket of 

 New Hampshire, e.xtending eastward and embracing the Sakoki, 

 Aroosaguntacook, and Norridgewock, and the better-known Wawe- 

 nock, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Malecite, through to the Micmac. 

 Here a relatively uniform set of internal features contrasts rather 

 sharply w^th the corresponding properties of the southern New 

 England family. The Wabanaki group shows us in material life and 

 activity' the preponderance of hunting, the important feature of 

 large and well-defined family hunting territories, with a loosely 

 organized society manifesting a tendency toward patriarchy. Here 

 the chiefs lacked extreme power, and a confederacy developed, 

 modeled after that of the Iroquois. Industrial life was characterized 

 by the constant use of birch bark for the covering of the conical, 



> Key into the Language of .America. Collections of tlie Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. I (1827), 

 p. 19. 



' This opinion is held by several authorities. Especially worth mentioning is a discussion by R. li. 

 Di.\on, "The Early Migrations of the Indians of New England and the Maritime Provinces," Proceedings 

 of .\merican Antiquarian .Society, .\pril, 1914, pp. 4, 9. 



